Wordsmith: Guide to College Writing (Book Alone)

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Your life's work is centered on connecting to your students and preparing them for productive futures. Pamela Arlov created the Wordsmithseries to help you connect with your students. We asked professors what they thought their students would want in a textbook. Here's what we heard and how Wordsmithaddresses today's students: 1) Students find textbooks dry and tedious.Arlov includes engaging grammar openers, plenty of visuals, and has a writing style that is second to none! 2) Students find textbooks irrelevant to their lives. Arlov's combination of the rhetorical modes is realistic and models real life writing. She has also added ;Real Writing ; examples in the modes chapters to make Wordsmitheven more relevant to students' lives. 3) Students become frustrated if the entire text is not used in class.Wordsmith is 150 pages briefer than similar texts on the market and an affordable option. This concise approach also does not overwhelm students with too much information. Wordsmithprovides students with just the right balance of instruction and practice!

Preface

Updates to the Third Edition

xv

To the Instructor

xvii

To the Student

xxv

PART 1 Composition

1

(282)

The Writing Process

3

(20)

The Writing Process

4

(15)

Prewriting

4

(1)

Planning

5

(1)

Drafting

5

(1)

Revising

6

(1)

Proofreading

6

(1)

An Important Point

7

(1)

The Writing Process: Carla's Essay

8

(8)

If You Hate the Thought of a Step-by-Step Approach

16

(3)

Review of the Paragraph

19

(1)

The Topic Sentence

19

(1)

The Supporting Sentences

19

(1)

The Summary Sentence

19

(1)

A Model Paragraph

20

(1)

Writing Assignment 1: Writing and You

20

(1)

Writing Assignment 2: Reasons for Attending College

21

(2)

Preparing to Write

23

(16)

Prewriting

23

(1)

Why Prewrite?

24

(1)

Prewriting Methods

24

(11)

Brainstorming

25

(2)

Freewriting

27

(1)

Invisible Writing: A Computer Technique

28

(1)

Clustering

29

(2)

Narrowing Your Topic: The Topic-Subtopic Method

31

(2)

Outlining

33

(1)

Journal Writing

34

(1)

Progressive Writing Assignment

35

(4)

Building a Framework: Thesis and Organization

39

(22)

The Structure of an Essay

41

(1)

A Model Essay

41

(1)

Constructing the Thesis Statement

42

(11)

Types of Thesis Statements

42

(7)

Evaluating Your Thesis Points

49

(4)

Organizing Your Essay

53

(5)

Emphatic Order

53

(2)

Sandwich Order

55

(2)

Chronological Order

57

(1)

Progressive Writing Assignment

58

(3)

Introducing the Essay

61

(12)

Purposes of an Introduction

62

(1)

Types of Introduction

63

(8)

Broad to Narrow

63

(1)

Narrow to Broad

64

(1)

Quotation

65

(2)

Anecdote

67

(1)

Contrasting Idea

68

(1)

Historical

69

(2)

Progressive Writing Assignment

71

(2)

Developing Body Paragraphs

73

(28)

Characteristics of an Effective Body Paragraph

74

Direction: Shaping the Topic Sentences of Body Paragraphs

74

Unity: Sticking to the Point of the Essay

80

Coherence: Holding the Essay Together

82

Support: Using Specific Detail

88

Progressive Writing Assignment

98=E

(24)

Concluding the Essay

101

(10)

Methods of Conclusion

102

(6)

Summary

102

(1)

Recommendation

103

(1)

Prediction

104

(1)

Full Circle

105

(1)

Quotation

106

(2)

Traps to Avoid

108

(1)

Sermonizing

108

(1)

Starched Prose

108

(1)

Progressive Writing Assignment

109

(2)

Revising, Proofreading, and Formatting

111

(16)

Revising

112

(5)

Checklist for Revision

113

(4)

Proofreading

117

(5)

The Top-Down Technique

118

(1)

The Bottom-Up Technique

118

(1)

The Targeting Technique

118

(1)

Proofreading the Word-Processed Essay

119

(3)

Formatting

122

(2)

Handwritten Documents

122

(1)

Word-Processed Documents

123

(1)

Progressive Writing Assignment

124

(3)

Showing and Telling: Description, Narration, and Example

127

(38)

Description

128

(1)

Laying the Groundwork for Descriptive Writing

128

(1)

Elements of Descriptive Writing

129

(12)

Sense Impressions

129

(3)

Spatial Order

132

(1)

Establishing a Dominant Impression

133

(2)

Wordsmith's Corner: Examples of Descriptive Writing

135

(6)

Narration

141

(10)

Laying the Groundwork for Narrative Writing

141

(1)

Techniques for Successful Narration

142

(4)

Wordsmith's Corner: Examples of Narrative Writing

146

(5)

Example

151

(11)

Laying the Groundwork for Writing Using Examples

152

(3)

Wordsmith's Corner: Examples of Writing Supported by Example

155

(7)

Topics for Combining Methods of Development

162

(3)

Limiting and Ordering: Definition, Classification, and Process

165

(34)

Definition

166

(10)

Laying the Groundwork for Writing a Definition

167

(1)

Using Examples in Definition Essays

168

(1)

Subjective and Objective Definitions

168

(2)

Wordsmith's Corner: Examples of Writing Developed by Definition

170

(6)

Classification

176

(13)

Laying the Groundwork for Writing Classification Papers

177

(1)

Establishing a Basis for Classification

178

(5)

Wordsmith's Corner: Examples of Writing Developed through Classification